South Africa’s Northern Cape saw ground breaking ceremonies on two renewable energy projects. Both the Khobab Wind Farm and the Loeriesfontein Wind Farm celebrated the start of construction on September 8.
“We are thrilled to be adding over a million megawatt hours of clean, renewable energy each year to the country’s national grid; avoiding an estimated twenty-two million tonnes of carbon emissions over the lifespan of these projects, when compared to traditional fossil fuel power plants,” said Tom Thorogood, General Manager of Khobab Wind Farm and Loeriesfontein Wind Farm.
The two wind farms, situated alongside each other within the Hantam Municipality, will comprise 61 wind turbines each with a combined output of 280MW.
The wind turbines are being supplied by Siemens Wind Power. The 99-meter turbine towers are to be manufactured at the new Gestamp Wind Turbine Tower Factory in Atlantis in the Western Cape.
The Loeriesfontein and Khobab Wind Farms are part of round three of South Africa’s REIPPP and construction and operationswill be operated by Mainstream Renewable Power South Africa.
Mainstream is currently constructing a third wind farm in the Northern Cape Province, namely Noupoort Wind Farm.